Philadelphia Flyers: 5 biggest questions for the 2020-21 season

How much of the Philadelphia Flyers young stars will we see this year?

After their top two lines, the Flyers have several questions when it comes to building out the rest of their lineups. Losing Derek Grant and Nate Thompson opens up opportunities for Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and other young players to step up.

The player I’m most interested to see this year is Frost, who lit up the league when he joined the team in November with goals in his first two games.

His first goal featured silky smooth hands elevating a shot over former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky, and he followed that up the next night with a powerful one-time short-handed goal moments after the faceoff.

Frost will enter camp fighting for a spot on the 23-man roster or the four-man “taxi squad,” but I find it hard to imagine the Flyers not letting their top prospect play. Frost is more valuable to them playing than sitting in a booth upstairs, and he proved last year he’s capable of playing in the NHL at 21-years-old.

Farabee is another first-round pick the Flyers got to see burst onto the scene last year, totaling 21 points in 52 games, though it was only 14 minutes per game.

He’ll likely play on the second line with Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny, providing a lot of opportunities to create points both on even strength and the power play.

Finally, there’s Aube-Kubel, who will likely find himself on the fourth line with James Van Riemsdyk and potentially Frost. If those three guys are playing up to their potential, that’s going to be a potent fourth line, possibly the best in hockey.

Also playing in limited time last year, Aube-Kubel managed 15 points in 36 games averaging 11 minutes. Pairing him with Frost could be the making of a future top line for the Flyers with years of chemistry that starts now.

All three of these guys need to step up in 2021, especially in a compact season with rivalry games almost every week. They’ve got the young legs to help push the Flyers through this schedule and potentially into a long playoff run.